John Calipari Likes Maui Now

Remember when John Calipari made clear he wasn't all that thrilled that Kentucky was taking part in the Maui Invitational?

In October, he told aseaofblue.com, the following:

"The games after that are hard. I have done that. When I saw it, I didn't like it. It takes away from what you have at home. That's what you buy into. Instead of having 31 games, you have 30. That one game for this program is $600,000.

"But that being said, the schedule is harder than it was a year ago. We have tougher road games, a harder overall schedule. Our league is better. You have two teams that will be in the top 10 above us, both Florida and Tennessee. Georgia will be way better than people expect or understand, and we have to play all those people twice. That's six games."

He sounded more than happy to be here during a press conference this morning, saying it was a great test for his team.

Then he said this: "Let me apoligize to all of you. As you can see, we don't have much of a following. They're all here."

He was kidding.

Nobody travels like Kentucky.Blue is everywhere. Maui tournament officials wouldn't release details of tickets sold by each team, etc., but Kentucky is the only team said to have sold out their packages. Tickets are purchased through schools, through the tournament and through outside agencies.

Anyway, fans have a lot to do with teams coming here, which tournament chairman Dave Odom pointed out. And, no, Odom was never upset with Calipari's comments.

"Everyting is situational. Remember, John has gone on the record as saying, 'Come with me, play with one year and you can leave if you want and I'll get somebody just as good.' That's basically the way he's recruited. That's his public approach to things. When he said that about a month ago, he didn't know much about his team, and he was a little nervous about it.

"There are a lot of questions. He doesn't have a veteran team. You have freshmen who are going to have to travel all the way to Maui. How are they going to stand up to the travel, the fatigue, the trip itself? Will they get caught up in the ambiance of the island and not be focused? It is a very strong field and whatever, whatever, wheataver. I had a lot of people call me right after that and they said, 'Are you worried about John or are you mad at him? Absolutely not. Every coach has a right to coach his own team the way he sees fit. It's my hope - and I talked to John after that - that once the tournament is complete and his team plays well ... he'll be on the flight home and he'll be fine with Maui, and four years from now - remember this, and you people in Connecticut can understand this -- this tournament is not only about the universities and their teams, it's also about their fans, and there are no more ardant fans in this country and the UK fans. ... Four years from now, their fans are going to want to come back out here. John's first obligation is to his team and university, but he also understands he has an obligation to the fans. ... We'll get him back."